The present invention relates to method and apparatus for presenting audio versions of web pages. It also relates to method and apparatus for presenting audio versions of web pages on a variety of client terminals.
Web pages are normally generated by servers, provided to client terminals and are read by users on the client terminals. While the web pages on the internet provide a wealth of information, those web pages typically must be read by the user. It would be more convenient if a user at a client terminal could have the option of accessing the information in alternative ways. For example, it would be advantageous if the user at the client terminal could hear the web page being spoken as well as being able to read the web page. Thus, it would be advantageous if web pages could be presented to client terminals in audio form. It would be even more advantageous if the user at the client terminal could select the mode of accessing the information.
Technically savvy users can implement text to speech converters to have portions of web pages read on their personal computers. But these solutions, to the extent they exist, are based on a client side implementation. An architecture that would minimize the needs imposed on the client terminal and on the user of the client terminal would, therefore, make the experience for the user easier and more enjoyable.
It is also presently inconvenient for a user to search a pre-selected list of web pages. Users must now go through a list of web pages and individually access those web pages. This takes the user's time. It would be advantageous to provide method and apparatus to make this process easier for a user.
Accordingly, new and improved methods and apparatus for accessing web pages are needed.